


First Shift

by magisterpavus



Series: THIHV/Vampire AU [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Mates, Multi, Peril, Polyamory, Shapeshifting, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 09:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13004943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magisterpavus/pseuds/magisterpavus
Summary: ARE YOU SAYING I’M STUCK?Lance wailed, lifting a paw and looking at them with despair.I can’t be stuck as this fake-ass animal forever!“Forever is a little dramatic,” Shiro sighed. “And you look quite real to me.”Lance flopped onto his side in the dust dramatically, head lolling and ears drooping.Well, then what am I, huh?“A puppy-horsie,” Keith said, snickering.I will bite you,Lance warned, narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth. Keith did not look impressed.





	First Shift

**Author's Note:**

> this was a request for @cbrubyc on tumblr~
> 
> support me on tumblr [@saltyshiro](http://saltyshiro.tumblr.com/)

_“Kolivan, I thought you said this was gonna be a quick in-and-out!”_ Keith snarled over the comms.

 _“Don’t you dare blame me for this mess, Kogane,”_ Kolivan growled. _“You certainly haven’t helped the situation.”_

Shiro’s voice followed immediately, sharp. _“Kolivan, don’t blame Keith; it’s not his fault that we didn’t know about the reinforcements – that was your job.”_

Lance groaned. _Sires_. “Will you guys can it for five seconds so I can actually think? Thanks.”

 _“I second that,”_ Ulaz grumbled. _“Thace, what’s your position?”_

There was some static over the comms, then Thace said, with bouts of interference and the clear sounds of a fight in the background, _“We’re – bad place to be – have all the breeders surrounded – no way through.”_

Lance frowned. “Thace, where do they have the breeders at?”

 _“The central citadel,”_ Thace replied. _“Commander Throk and his best soldiers are guarding it – threatened to kill all the thralls inside if we attacked – even the infants and children.”_

Lance’s lips pulled back from his teeth in disgust. “Yeah, well, that’s not gonna fly,” he snapped.

 _“There has to be a another way in,”_ Keith insisted. _“Hunk? Do you have visuals of the garrison layout and the thermal map?”_

 _“Gimme a second,”_ Hunk mumbled, voice staticy. _“The main entry is blocked off...thermals are picking up a big group of vamps surrounding it, like Thace said. Oh, man...there’s at least thirty breeders in there, and what looks like a few dozen kids.”_ Everyone sucked in a sharp breath. _“This Throk guy is a real piece of work, huh? Wait...there are ventilation shafts! They connect to the main level in that boiler room area you guys passed earlier. They look pretty narrow, though...it’d be a tight squeeze for you guys.”_

 _“Lance and Keith might be small enough to get through that way,”_ Shiro mused.

 _“And once they get in?”_ Kolivan said doubtfully. _“There are guards inside they will have to take care of.”_

 _“We’ll handle it,”_ Keith said.

“Between Keith’s knives and my magic, we got this,” Lance agreed. “We’ll take out the guards, protect the breeders, and then we’ll have Throk and his soldiers surrounded and you guys can attack without worrying about the breeders’ safety. Easy peasy.”

 _“Stay safe and keep us posted,”_ Shiro said.

“Roger that,” Lance muttered, and muted his comms as he stepped into the passageway up ahead. It was bathed in the same eerie purple light as every Galra stronghold they’d busted in the past fifteen years, which had been...a lot. This one, Commander Throk’s, was one of the biggest ones on the list. Lance hadn’t expected to find a lot of vampires in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, but Throk was a sneaky one...and apparently Lotor had purposefully given him the worst garrison location. Lance had never seen eye to eye with Lotor, but in this case...he figured Throk probably deserved it. 

His garrison’s thralls had been the most malnourished and abused that the Blade of Marmora had ever come across, and the number of casualties and deaths had been insurmountable. There was a serious thrall overpopulation problem, which led to diseases, deformities from inbreeding, overfeeding, and a whole host of other issues. In short, it was a disaster and a tragedy, and Lance would be glad when they were done with this place once and for all. 

But first, they had to save the breeders and their kids. Lance backtracked to the boiler room and found Keith waiting there for him, looking harried and splattered in black vamp blood that wasn’t his own. “This place sucks, huh?” Lance said as Keith yanked at the ventilation shaft covers, sending them clattering to the floor. 

“It’s pretty awful,” Keith agreed, shaking his head. “Sooner we’re out of here, the better. Ready to kick some Galra ass?”

“Always,” Lance said, giving him a solid high five before scrambling into the first ventilation shaft, while Keith took the second. He switched his comms back on, wincing at the loud echoes in the tight space, and began to crawl.

“We’re in,” Lance said. “How’s it lookin’, Thace?”

_“Throk is still being a prick.”_

“Shocker,” Lance said. “Hunk, directions please?”

_“Sure thing, bud. You’re gonna wanna keep to the right; the shaft widens over the citadel so you’ll know when you’re there. Looks like you’re just gonna have to drop down...it’s a long ways.”_

“We’re tough,” Lance said. “Right, Keith?”

 _“I can fly,”_ Keith pointed out. _“You’re the one who should be worried.”_

“Did I ask, bat boy?” Lance huffed. They continued in silence, until sure enough, the shaft widened and Lance felt cool air rising up from below him, coupled by soft sobbing and whimpering...and the bitter scent of fear mixed with blood, desperation, and children. Lance’s eyes narrowed. “Keith?”

_“Ready when you are.”_

“Now,” Lance said, popping open the grate with a sharp claw and swinging down from the ceiling. He didn’t drop down immediately – it was a dizzying height, and he leapt for the intricate stonework on the walls instead, landing hard and climbing down quickly. He saw Keith glide down from the ceiling soon after, and then he saw the multitude of humans huddled beneath them, still unaware of their presence. 

They were too focused on the Galra guards to notice. Keith had also landed on the wall in bat form, and was shuffling slowly along the wall towards the guards, huge ears flicking back and forth. Lance closed in on the guards from the other side. There were half a dozen of them, and as Lance neared them he determined that the two in the middle were the most powerful – older, probably, with stronger magic. Lance took a deep breath, and focused until he could see that magic swirling around them in enticing tendrils, just waiting to be yanked away from them. And yank Lance did.

The two guards staggered, and Keith leapt, descending upon the incapacitated vampires with his daggers. Lance was always impressed at his heart-cutting speed, but he didn’t have much time to be impressed now, with the other four guards lunging at Keith. Hissing, Lance tore their magic away thread by thread and let Keith pick them off as they stumbled towards him as if drunk, dizzied by the sudden absence of power. Lance’s eyes flared blue as he hopped off the wall, landing amongst the bodies and nudging one with his foot disdainfully. Keith wiped his knives off on their guard uniforms, sheathed them, and turned towards the breeders.

The humans stood paralyzed in fear, most of the adults pregnant women, all clutching children and babies close to them. “We’re here to help,” Lance told them quietly, lifting his palms in the universal ‘please don’t freak out we’re the good guys’ gesture. It didn’t seem to do much good – the humans still backed away as best they could as Lance and Keith approached. 

“It will be alright,” Keith added gently. “We’ll deal with Throk and his soldiers, and then you can rejoin the other thralls who have been freed already.”

The humans looked at each other with wide, confused eyes, but they stayed put, so Lance counted it as a win. He and Keith turned towards the doors and switched on their comms. “Guards are out,” Keith said. “Give that bastard what he deserves.”

 _“Roger that,”_ Shiro growled, and the tunnels outside erupted into the noise of battle. 

The humans exchanged frightened looks and several babies began to cry, louder when something heavy thudded against the doors. Lance backed up in a defensive position, guarding the humans as Keith unsheathed his knives and took offense. When the doors burst open, both Galra and Blades rushed in, and Lance slashed and stole magic blindly, keeping the Galra at bay. The humans, if they hadn’t been panicking before, certainly were now – even though the Blades were overpowering the remaining Galra, the Galra were terrifyingly close.

So close, in fact, that one of the Galra soldiers managed to dart forward and nab a little girl clinging to her mother’s skirts. The mother screamed and her daughter screamed even louder – she couldn’t have been older than three, and her brown eyes were round and filled with tears as the soldier carried her off into the fray.

The mother caught Lance’s horrified gaze and reached out to him, pleading. “You, please, you said you would free us – se lo suplico, bring my Rosa back to me, or he will kill her!”

“I’ll bring Rosa back to you,” Lance promised, and sent her a soothing pulse of magic, not a thrall but a reassurance. “Yo la mantendré a salvo. Se prometo.”

“Please,” her mother gasped, “ _hurry!_ ” 

Lance turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could, following the sound of Rosa’s cries.

He brushed past Shiro, who looked at him in concern and confusion before being distracted by a Galra with a sword. Lance shook his head, clearing it of his sires’ emotions and instincts, and honed in on the Galra carrying Rosa. He was fleeing from the battle, Lance realized warily, and headed down a tunnel...one of the main exit tunnels. Lance swore and urged himself to run faster, following Rosa’s scent – scared, young, and...bleeding? Oh, no. Had the Galra already started feeding?!

Lance rounded the corner and saw her, slung over the Galra’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. His anger flared, and his vampiric instincts with it, but he was still too far away to reach the Galra’s magic. Rosa saw Lance following and screamed louder, beating at the Galra’s back with her tiny fists. But it was too late – the Galra hurried up and out of the garrison through one of the entrances the Blade had left open, and the cool night air of the desert washed over Lance as he followed.

The Galra seemed to notice he was being pursued, because he zigzagged through the treacherous landscape, between tall saguaros and patches of jumping cholla, hurdling over boulders and scrambling down rocky slopes. Lance struggled to keep up, his stamina waning, but his determination keeping him going. 

They must have been running for miles before the Galra began to slow, his pace lagging ever so slightly as they approached a large tumble of sandstone boulders in a secluded wash. Lance braced himself for a fight as the Galra turned to face him, fangs bared and ears pinned back.

But instead of lunging at him, the Galra went for Rosa’s neck.

Lance snarled and ripped the Galra’s magic away, slicing it to ribbons before his fangs could even make contact with the little girl’s skin. The Galra crumpled to the ground, knees folding from under him, and Lance went in for the kill, his claws sinking easily into the Galra’s chest and closing around his still-beating heart. He’d learned that move from Keith.

When the Galra lay still and bloodied on the ground, Lance turned to Rosa. She hadn’t run away, surprisingly...and then Lance scented the air and looked closer and saw her leg was cut, scratched deeply by the Galra’s claws. She couldn’t run. She was trembling and ashen-faced, flinching away as he advanced.

“N-no!” she gasped, high-pitched and terrified, and Lance’s heart hurt. “Don’t! I want my Mamá!”

“Hey, hey, shhh, está bien. No te preocupes, estás a salvo...I’m not gonna hurt you, Rosa. Your Mamá sent me,” Lance told her, speaking slowly and softly. 

The little girl was unconvinced. She pointed to his mouth. “Sharp,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Ow. Bad. You’re like them!” She pointed to the dead Galra. 

“I’m not,” Lance said, taking another step forward, but she cowered and covered her face. He faltered. He hated using his thrall, especially on a child, but he didn’t want to drag her back to the garrison kicking and screaming, either. She’d been through enough trauma for a lifetime. He wracked his brain and his magic for something, anything that would make her trust him enough to let him bring her back. _Please,_ he thought helplessly, staring down at the injured child on the ground before him, _I have to help her._

Suddenly, the crystal around his neck flared brightly. Lance started – it hardly ever did that these days, since it wasn’t an actual Balmeran crystal. Curious, he tilted his head and tried to listen to it as he once had so many years ago. 

_Shift,_ it whispered, and without warning Lance’s eyes flared with the crystal and his spine arched, a quick jolt of pain like an electric shock rippling through him before he fell heavily to his knees and everything rearranged, a strange sort of puzzle coming together, something hot and itchy spreading over his skin, his nose lengthening and teeth sharpening further and joints popping alarmingly and clothes ripping and fluttering to the ground in tatters and then –

Rosa slowly uncovered her eyes, and then gawked at him. “Puppy?” she whispered uncertainly, reaching out. She poked his nose. Lance blinked down at her, almost going cross-eyed – his nose felt different. Everything felt different. He looked a little further down, and...huh. He had...paws. Dainty little black paws, and long gangly black legs that faded into long reddish brown fur and...Lance wasn’t sure he was a ‘puppy,’ exactly.

But, puppy or not, he sat down like a puppy wanting to play and cocked his head at Rosa, flicking his ears, which felt...rather big. She squealed in glee and stood up to pet him, only to gasp in pain as her leg gave out from under her. Lance darted forward to support her small body with his long muzzle, and she clutched gratefully at his neck. “Soft,” she mumbled.

Lance considered how best to go about this. He figured he could maybe pick her up by her shirt collar with his teeth, but that might scare her, and she could get hurt further. So...the only other thing he could think of was for her to climb aboard his back. Gently, he nudged at her with his nose, urging her to sit. It...took awhile. Lance cursed his inability to speak.

She just kept giggling and patting his ears obliviously, and then finally exclaimed, “Oh! Pony!” and clambered up just behind his shoulders. He felt her clinging to his fur and hoped she was holding on tight, because he was pretty tall for a puppy and didn’t want her falling off. When he started walking, she delightedly gasped, “Ooh, faster, horsie!” and Lance obligingly started up a jaunty little trot up and out of the wash despite not being a horsie or a puppy. 

Rosa continued to babble the whole way back, which was comforting to Lance because it meant she was doing alright. It certainly wasn’t a traumatizing experience for her, judging by the way she kept ordering her ‘horsie’ to go faster and giggling every time Lance’s ears moved. By the time the garrison came into view, the sun had begun to lighten on the horizon, a hint of the coming dawn, and Lance hurried to take cover. 

Rosa’s grip tightened as they approached the garrison. “Mamá!”

Lance ran faster, in long loping strides, and she bounced excitedly around. Sure enough, her Mamá and a few of the other breeders were standing outside with a very grim-faced Shiro and Keith. As soon as they saw Lance with Rosa on his back, their expressions contorted into confusion. 

“Is that a coyote?” Keith said, hand going to his knife. Then he scented the air and stilled. “Wait – it’s _Lance_!”

Shiro’s eyes widened, flaring gold. “Lance?!”

Lance made a sound. It was not a particularly good sound, somewhere between a roar and a bark, and everyone jumped, including Rosa. “Horsie!” she admonished, smacking his neck lightly. “Too loud!”

Lance turned his head to nuzzle her palm apologetically before loping on over to the others. Keith and Shiro blinked at him in shock. Lance ignored them in favor of returning Rosa to her her mother, lowering his body so she could scramble off and her mother could scoop her up, holding her close and sobbing in relief. “Mamá!” Rosa exclaimed. “Puppy-horsie saved me!” She put her fingers up to her mouth like fangs. “He made them go away!”

“Thank you,” Rosa’s mother said to Lance cautiously. Lance whined and nodded to Rosa’s leg. Her mother frowned, looking at it, and then gasped when she saw the blood. “Oh! Oh, mijita, let’s get you inside so the nice people can fix you up, sí?” She whispered a last quick ‘gracias’ to Lance before hurrying back inside the Garrison, where the Blades were waiting and helping the other thralls. 

Lance turned to Shiro and Keith. He came up to about Shiro’s mid-chest height, which meant whatever he was, it was pretty big. He was almost as tall as Keith, who gawked at him. “How’d you shift so fast?!” Keith demanded. “It’s hardly been fifteen years!”

Lance shrugged his weird fluffy shoulders. _Rosa was scared, so...I guess my magic just found me a less scary form?_

“Less scary?” Shiro repeated incredulously. “Lance, you look like a giant...wolf...fox...thing.”

 _You don’t know what I am?!_ Lance exclaimed.

“Er...no,” Keith said. “You’re...just look.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed the front-facing camera to Lance.

Lance yelped and leapt backwards. He looked like a wolf and a fox yet was unmistakably neither of those things. His fur was a shade darker than a fox’s, more russet than red, with bright white tufts in his pointy, oversized ears and a lighter cream color along his jaw, underside, and fluffy tail. His narrow muzzle, long lanky legs, and short neck were black, and the fur on the back of his neck was longer, raised and sort of spiky...a kind of weird mane like on the hyenas in _The Lion King_. His eyes were round, bright brown that flashed briefly blue. 

Lance didn’t look like any animal he’d ever seen before – he had an odd sort of mismatched body, with very long legs, a short neck and small head, and a gait that was strangely delicate and deerlike when he took a few cautious steps forward to scrutinize his reflection more closely. His mouth, when he opened it, was lined with small, sharp teeth – not as big or as dangerous as a wolf’s, with long, thin canines not unlike a vampire’s. 

_¿Qué carajo es esto?_ Lance was as bewildered as his sires. 

Shiro shook his head. “I don’t know, Lance, but you’d better shift back – we ought to help the Blades inside.”

Lance hesitated. _...How do I shift back?_

“Uh…” Keith frowned. “You just kind of...do it?”

Lance tried to “just kind of do it.” It didn’t work. He looked to Shiro, panicky. Also panicky, Shiro said, “Try connecting to your magic?”

_I’m always connected to my magic, genius!_

“Connect harder?” Shiro suggested weakly.

 _Nothing’s happening!_ Lance retorted. _C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…_

“Well, I guess you got to shift early, but you also aren’t able to shift back as easily, so that’s a trade-off,” Keith mused, eyebrows raised.

 _ARE YOU SAYING I’M STUCK?_ Lance wailed, lifting a paw and looking at them with despair. _I can’t be stuck as this fake-ass animal forever!_

“Forever is a little dramatic,” Shiro sighed. “And you look quite real to me.”

Lance flopped onto his side in the dust dramatically, head lolling and ears drooping. _Well, then what am I, huh?_

“A puppy-horsie,” Keith said, snickering. 

_I will bite you,_ Lance warned, narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth. Keith did not look impressed. 

“Hey, Shiro, Keith, did you find – oh, Lord in Heaven, what is _that_?” Thace stopped in his tracks, staring at Lance. Lance huffed and got to his feet, shaking himself and sending dust flying everywhere. Thace’s eyes widened when he saw the crystal. “Lance? He shifted already?”

“Yes, but now he can’t seem to shift back,” Shiro explained, kneeling down and scratching Lance behind the ears. Lance sat back on his haunches and gave him a flat look before slobbering all over Shiro’s hand. “Augh! Lance!”

 _I’m not sorry,_ Lance said, glaring and trying to look as dignified as possible with a single line of drool still dangling from his mouth. _You two don’t seem to grasp the gravity of the situation, thanks very much!_

“We do, we do,” Shiro assured him, wiping his hand off on his shirt. “It’s going to be okay, Lance.” He gave Thace an apologetic look. “Do you think you can manage without us, at least until we get this sorted out?”

“Of course,” Thace said, nodding hastily. “A first shift is a very important stage in a vampire’s life! I’ll tell the others – let us know when you’re able to return. Would you like me to fetch Shay to make a portal for you three?”

“That would be great, thanks,” Shiro said.

Thace hurried back inside and emerged several minutes later with Shay...and Hunk, who gasped as soon as he saw Lance. “Buddy, is that really you? You’re a...a…” Hunk’s brow furrowed. “What are you?”

“Nobody knows, least of all Lance,” Keith replied helpfully. “We’ll Google it when we get home.”

“Google it! Keith said Google it, I’m so proud.” Hunk shot him finger guns. 

Lance said, _You’re thirty-three, dude, stop._ Luckily for Hunk, only Lance’s sires could hear him being grumpy.

“You’re technically thirty-three too, Lance,” Shiro told him. 

Lance growled at him. “Aw, the puppy’s in a bad mood,” Keith said. Lance growled louder. 

“I’ll just get that portal open, shall I?” Shay chuckled, giving Lance a sympathetic pat on the head. “You are a very beautiful beast, at least.”

“Beautiful?” Hunk wrinkled his nose. “Sure, if you say so, honey...kinda looks like if Sophie tried to draw a fox and messed up the colors.”

Sophie was Shay and Hunk’s five year old daughter. Lance huffed at him and swatted Hunk with his tail as Shay readied the portal. “Sophie is a wonderful artist,” Shay retorted. “She wouldn’t make the legs so disproportionate.”

Lance made the terrifying roar-bark sound again in outrage. Hunk clutched at his chest. “Almost gave me a heart attack, jeez, Lance!” He shook his head. “Lemme know when you figure out what the heck you turned into, yeah? Because at this point, I’m beginning to think it’s some kinda prehistoric mutant fox.”

Lance perked up a little. That sounded awesome.

“Here you are,” Shay said, gesturing to the portal. “Good luck, Lance! We believe in you.” She blew him a little kiss as he followed Keith and Shiro through the portal.

*

Once home, Lance’s Situation didn’t get much better. He still couldn’t shift back, no matter how hard he tried, and after a couple hours of fruitless efforts, Lance laid down on the rug in the parlor hopelessly. Keith was sitting on the couch, scrolling through his laptop. Normally, Lance would be proud of him for figuring out technology, but right now he was too busy wallowing in self-pity.

“A-ha!” Keith exclaimed suddenly. “I got it!”

Lance lifted his head warily. Shiro, sitting on the floor next to him, said, “Yes, Keith?”

“Look!” Keith turned the laptop screen towards them, and sure enough – Google Images was filled with photos of Lance’s weird animal form. “You’re a maned wolf!”

“So, he is is a wolf?” Shiro pet Lance’s scruffy black mane thoughtfully. “Huh.”

“No, actually, the Wikipedia article says maned wolves aren’t wolves,” Keith said.

Shiro blinked. “A fox, then?”

“Nope,” Keith said. 

_Let me see that, bat boy,_ Lance demanded, and jumped up onto the couch next to him before Shiro could stop him.

“Lance, you’re getting fur all over the furniture!” Shiro protested, standing up to sit on the other side of Keith. 

Lance stuck his tongue out at Shiro and set his head on Keith’s shoulder to watch him scroll through the article. Keith had developed a special sort of fascination for Wikipedia over the past several years, and it was endlessly endearing and irritating – seriously, Lance did not need to know every detail about the Nibiru cataclysm or the possible government ties to Cicada 3301, but he was glad Keith was having fun.

“Maned wolves are the largest canids of South America,” Keith read. “Wow, they’re from the same general region that Altea was in!”

 _Oh, hardy har,_ Lance said. _Very funny, vampire shifting genes. Throwback, much?_

“I mean, to be fair, jaguars and vampire bats are from South America, too,” Shiro pointed out. 

Keith kept reading. “It is the only species in the genus _Chrysocyon_ , meaning ‘golden dog.’” He turned to look at Lance. “Cute.” Lance licked him right on the mouth and watched him splutter smugly. “Ugh! Lance, you’re gross, stop it. I’m not all over you when I’m a bat, get off!”

Lance flinched away at the rejection, ears flicking back, whining low in his throat and hopping off the couch to lay back down on the floor despondently. “Oh, Lance, none of that,” Shiro sighed, giving Keith a look and crawling back over to Lance. Lance didn’t look at him, just covered his head with his paws and whimpered in misery.

Keith shut his laptop and shuffled on over, too, his palm pressing lightly to Lance’s shoulder. “Lance? You know I didn’t mean that. You’re not gross. We love you, and we’re going to get you shifted back.”

 _But what if you don’t?_ Lance whispered. _What if I have to stay like this forever? I don’t wanna be a maned wolf forever, even if they are pretty cool. I can’t even hold your guys’ hands if I have freaking paws!_

“But we can hold your paws,” Shiro told him as seriously as possible, and squeezed a front paw lightly in his hand. “And you won’t stay like this forever – I’ve heard of a few cases like this before. Worst case scenario, you’ll be like this a few days – but you’ll revert naturally, eventually. Sometimes it just takes a little time.”

“How did you say you shifted, again?” Keith asked curiously. “That little girl was scared, and you didn’t want her to be?”

Lance nodded. _Rosa wouldn’t let me go near her when I looked like...well, me._ He shivered unhappily and Keith and Shiro pet him soothingly, which helped...a lot, actually. _And I didn’t want to thrall her, you know, she’d been through enough...so I got desperate, tried to come up with a solution, something, anything...and my crystal lit up, and I shifted. It was really sudden._

“It was a high-stress situation, and you’re much younger than most vampires at their first shift,” Shiro murmured. “It makes sense that your body and magic are in shock and need some time to recover before attempting a shift back. In fact, it’s probably better that you let yourself adjust, Lance. That way, it’ll be easier the next time you shift.”

Lance uncovered his face and peered up at him, hopeful. _Yeah? You really think so?_

“I do,” Shiro said, and leaned down to kiss Lance’s forehead, right between his ears. “Come upstairs, baby. It’s dawn, and some sleep will do us all good – I can smell the exhaustion pouring off of you two, and I’m beyond tired, myself.”

“After a shower,” Keith added. He still had blood all over his shirt. 

But Shiro shook his head. “No shower – just sleep.”

“But –”

 _Just take the damn shirt off, bat boy, no need to be shy,_ Lance said.

Rolling his eyes, Keith yanked the shirt up and over his head. “So demanding,” he sighed, but he didn’t sound mad at all, and he giggled uncontrollably when Lance pawed at his abs playfully. “How are you still handsy even without hands? Hmph.”

Lance butted his head into Keith’s palm and bounded upstairs, sires close behind. He felt a little sad and uncertain again when he trotted into the bedroom and paused before the bed, but Shiro shook his head and patted the mattress, and Lance jumped up obligingly, curling between the two of them on his pillow. Shiro tugged the curtains tightly shut as the sun’s golden rays illuminated the waking forest, and the three of them sighed in the comforting, cool darkness that followed.

When Lance closed his eyes, he sensed a ripple of magic in the air, and then a huge presence on his right side, Shiro’s arm draped over his neck growing heavier. Lance’s eyes cracked open, and he blinked in surprise at the big, black panther paw happily kneading the sheets. Shiro’s warm breath feathered across his ears, and his chest rumbled with a purr as he said, _Go to sleep, Lance._

 _But – we’ll get fur all over the sheets,_ Lance started.

Lance was cut off by a large, leathery wing settling over himself and Shiro like a blanket. _Who cares?_ Keith said, nestling closer to Lance’s left side. _It’s our bed._ He nuzzled into Lance’s fur and added, _Hm...it’s just like I said, all those years ago when we turned you. Your animal form is something clever, quick, and beautiful._ Keith chuckled. _And a little weird._

 _Just like you,_ Shiro agreed.

 _I love you guys,_ Lance told them both with feeling, and Shiro’s tongue rasped softly against his cheek.

He fell asleep warm, content, and loved.

*

He woke up warm, content, and loved, too.

Oh, and naked. And no longer an animal. There was also that.

“ _YESSS!_ ” Lance yelled, bolting upright in bed and giving a fistbump of victory to the ceiling. 

Shiro and Keith were also awake, naked, and no longer animals, which was an all-around win, really. 

“I miss silent Lance,” Keith yawned, halfheartedly hitting him with a pillow.

“No, you don’t,” Lance retorted, and kissed him firmly until Keith melted into the sheets and wrapped a leg around his waist, moaning invitingly into his mouth.

“No, I don’t,” Keith agreed easily in a pleased gasp when Lance broke away and immediately started going to town on his neck. “Heh – Shiro, I think Lance missed being able to kiss us – ah!”

Shiro chuckled and draped himself along Lance’s back, stroking his hands over Lance’s skin, slow and reverent. “Told you it would be okay, baby,” he murmured. “We knew you could do it.”

Lance had often wondered if he would ever stop believing he was the luckiest guy alive. At this rate, he thought, with Keith smiling in sleepy joy up at him and Shiro hugging him in all his soft strength, probably not.

**Author's Note:**

> maned wolves are probably one of the weirdest animals I've ever seen. when i worked at the Phoenix Zoo's equine department, the horse barn was right next to the maned wolf exhibit, so I saw quite a lot of their male Romeo (and, like hunk, nearly had a minor heart attack when he started making the unique maned wolf roar-bark sound...not something u wanna hear in the dark lol). here they are in all their weird glory:
> 
> truly magnificent. thanks, nature. also, if you wanna hear that roar-bark (and see the fancy way they walk)...[here u go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBSGEl-yB7A)


End file.
